Kenyatta and me, rotate Saturday duty for Samori. This means Kenyatta handles three Saturdays a month and I handle one. She's told me before that this is unfair. I've told her that it's best if we "focus on looking toward the future." She's told me that, "the future looks unfair." I've settled on simply repeating the phrases "retribution" "focus on the future," and "looking forward" undulating tones until she gets tired and takes a nap.
This Saturday is my Saturday. I'm supposed to take Samori to Spring football practice. I usually enjoy this very much. But I plan to be recovering from a hangover after taking Ten Shots Of Anything. I think my son will be disappointed, because he'll miss practice, and his father will be a babbling mess.
I suspect, though I'm not sure, that this behavior may have some impact on my status as a positive male role model in his life (This is to say nothing of his mother yelling "I can't believe you slept with that nasty whore!" in the background.) I think that Samori may have some questions for me, if not now, then perhaps when he's 18. I think I've found a most agreeable soloution. I'll simply peer deep into his eyes, with the smuggest, most self-regarding look I can muster, and say, "Son, some thing in life must be mysterious."
I think this is an adequate substituite for actual parenting. I think it also ensures another ten shots next Friday. Hey, ladies...
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Copyright © 2010 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
you know what would be great? if you did 17 more posts in a row about this "looking forward" thing, cause your readers are too stupid to get your point after just three in a row...
freaktown:
You don't speak for me, and hopefully for most of TNC's readership. TNC, you keep banging the drum, man. This is really important, what you are saying. Because we do actually attempt to shame poor black families into becoming upstanding citizens. This is our solution to socio-economic racial inequality. Its stupid, but now you can see that our government doesn't even really say it, because they believe it will work. If they did, they might be concerned about creating glaring instances of hypocrisy like this. But it's like The Wire where Rawls shuts down the investigation right before the Carcetti vs. Royce election, and then says: "Lets go show these third world fucks how it's done!"
Heh, I love that scene. It's one of the best in the series. And not for nothing, thanks for the props.
I always liked the Wire better than the Sopranos, but whattaya gonna do when so many people these days they just wanta say, "fuhgeddaboutit."
Get over it, etc. But lately I've been wondering about that young woman that just got locked up in Iran as an American spy. That prison there, it's famous or should I say infamous for the terrible tortures that have gone down inside its walls. She's an American girl, a journalist. And who's to tell her jailers, hands off man? Americans with their three monkey motto? Fuhgeddaboutit.
I just don't get Freaktown's gripe...
Are you saying that the commenter's are stupid because they don't get it, or is TNC stupid for not getting that his readers already get it, so enough already. Either way, WTF? It's Friday.
I can't make up my mind if it's snark gone wrong or he's just having a really bad day...
I know, right. I read it over about 10 times, and I couldn't figure it out...
in the spirit of snark, and pissing people off on a friday...i demand another post in the spirit of "looking forward/Some things in life must be mysterious". I've yet to explore all the dimensions of these two concepts as well as their intersectioin and i feel deprived of valuable information brought forward by TNC's life experience. It's either this or 10 quick shots at the nearest divebar.
He's just tired of hearing about it. Or he thinks the convention is corny. I never understand people that get pissed off about this sort of thing. There are a gazillion other blogs, talking about other things. It isn't like this is the only blog in the world. Anyway, I thought about deleting his comment and banning him. But to do so would be to focus on retribution. I decided that I should "look forward" and try to "focus on the future."
funny funny shit, tnc, eventually clowning these muthafuckers is the only thing left after logic, fairness and the constitution no longer hold sway
you're 100% right, these torture apologistas are not only moral midgets but also fail any questions of logic or law
all they have left is mendacity and the repetition of talking points
these people need to stop being loyal to their lost party and start being loyal to America
when are some of these right wingers going to wake up and do what's right? come on guys, you can't all be that bad
My only question is how can the same group of people that want to re-capture the glories of the past be the same people that urge us to look to the future?
Because all of that stuff is just window dressing at this point. What really matters is that elites are allowed to preserve their moral authority. That has always been the defining perspective of conservatives (not to be confused with Republicans) throughout American history, from the Civil War, to the Depression, and up through the Civil Rights Movement. What conservatives fear more than anything is that the ruling opinion will be discredited....no matter how morally bankrupt it is revealed to be. The fact of the matter is that a lot of these people truly believe that those in power deserve to be above the law. And a lot of people in the media--democrats and republicans--seem to believe it as well.
(I should say, that there is another conservative perspective, which is the desire uphold the rule of law. But these desires--upholding the rule of law vs. preserving elite moral authority--will inevitably conflict for any conservative in a democratic society. Sullivan and a few others have come down on the side of the law. Others...well, lets just leave that....mysterious.
Oh, man. You got me. I had to work today and the posts scroll from recent to past.
Didn't get it until "Son..." Up to there I thought, sounds like the weekend I have planned to kick off in about 90 minutes except that I cannot get the Mrs. to go for less than alternate Saturdays.
Tomorrow is National Junior Ranger Day, so you can always skip the ten shots and take the boy to one of these spots nearby.
http://www.nps.gov/learn/juniorranger.cfm
(We're going to meet a wolf and hunt for water in the desert.)
Hells yeah, I declare today international "Things should be mysterious day", my plan is to walk down the main street of my home town smoking a fat blunt. If anyone asks what I'm smoking, I'll just press play on my Noonan-tron.
Oh, and that shit isn't weed, it may look like weed, smell like weed, and I may be high as fuck, but it's not weed. See, I've got this memo from my lawyer and everything . . . .
That made me laugh out loud. Which I appreciate since it's Saturday morning and my a$% is at work. The thing is, if you actually pulled a stunt like that on a black woman I would sincerely fear for your life.
@freaktown:
your readers are too stupid to get your point after just three in a row...
No, we get it. We got it the 1st moment we heard that #44 wasn't going to prosecute torturers. We'll really get it in as little as 3 to 7 years, unless we get freaky-lucky.
The people who don't get it, who need to get it, are our representatives in power, the men and women we helped elect this last election cycle. If they did get it, you wouldn't be reading this particular flavor of jive-spew.
Because they don't seem to get it, I hope TNC keeps the heat on, as there are many readers like you, like me, who can push some of that heat onto our lousy gov't.
Otherwise, it's a countdown to HEAVY, "the future looks unfair."